Captive Vote

I’ve never quite understood the racial argument against incarceration–or, for that matter, capital punishment–which goes something like this: Because African-Americans and other ethnic minorities are disproportionately imprisoned or executed, then the system is ipso facto broken and they shouldn’t be imprisoned or executed. To my way of thinking, that isn’t a reason to free or decline to execute guilty ethnic minorities; the proper response should be to incarcerate or execute more guilty non-ethnic minorities.

So the argument currently proffered for felons being given the right to vote–because African-Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos make up 12 percent of the state’s population but 36 percent of the state’s inmates–doesn’t convince me. That notwithstanding, however, I have indeed come around to believe that felons should be given the right to vote, and here’s why:

First, they really have given up a lot of rights. I mean, they’re in prison. Come on, isn’t depriving them also of the right to vote kind of piling on? And do you really think that disenfranchisement is a deterrent? (“I better not rob that guy; if I get caught and convicted, I won’t be able to vote in the next few elections.”)

Second, the people in prison aren’t only criminals; they’re unsuccessful criminals. Plenty of successful criminals are roaming free; you probably know some of them. These people are permitted to cast ballots because they’re better at what they do, or because they’re brighter in general, or maybe because they benefited from incompetent investigators, lazy prosecutors, or biased judges. Less competent, less bright, and less lucky people are punished enough (the previous administration aside) throughout their lives; it doesn’t seem fair to add this as well.

Third, what better way to rehabilitate felons than to allow them to participate in the democratic process? Let them become involved with the issues of the day. Let them contribute to their local, regional, and national communities. Let them understand that just because they’re in prison doesn’t mean that they’re worthless. And prisoners have special issues that others of us never even think about; they should be able to benefit from our representative government as much as anyone else.

Now I admit that some logistics need to be worked out. Would candidates campaign from cell to cell? Would prisoners form huge electoral blocs and pressure officials, say, to promise untoward liberties in exchange for votes? Would debates be held in prison commissaries and be moderated by wardens?

But we can get past all that. Let’s at least give it a shot. Let’s permit imprisoned felons to vote along with everyone else of age in this country. What could go wrong? I guess the quality of our candidates could diminish. I suppose it’s possible that you’d have people promising things they couldn’t or shouldn’t ever deliver.